General warned of nuclear war to pay mortgage, says Foreign Secretary

The Foreign Secretary has launched a furious attack on one of Britain’s most senior retired military officers who claimed that a nuclear war could break out with Russian within a year.

Philip Hammond said that Gen Sir Richard Shirreff is guilty of “rather disturbing conduct”, and that he had made the claim simply to make money.

Gen Sir Richard, Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2011-14, posits in his book 2017 War with Russia than a Russian invasion of the Baltic states would escalate to a nuclear exchange. There are too few Nato troops in the region to deter an attack, he warns.

Mr Hammond said his views were “inflammatory” and “highly speculative” at a time when the Kremlin is “intentionally misinterpreting” Nato’s defensive actions as hostile.

“I do find this rather disturbing conduct,” he said during a meeting at Nato headquarters, Brussels.

“I know he has got a book to sell, and I've no doubt that he has got a large mortgage to pay, but he was a senior Nato commander and this is quite irresponsible language," he said, adding it is "not the best way to conduct these kinds of diplomatic discussions."

Philip Hammond

“I don’t think there's anybody serious around who thinks the kind of scenario he is postulating is remotely likely."

The Kremlin had denounced Nato’s invitation to Montenegro to join the alliance yesterday as an “annexation”, Mr Hammond said. “We know that Nato is a purely defensive alliance, and we will continue to convey that message to the Russians, although they will continue to wilfully misinterpret.”

Nato plans to deploy around 3,000 troops, including a British battalion, close to the Russian border as a “trip wire” and deter an incursion.

“We wouldn’t want these deployments to be formations large enough to be capable as being misinterpreted as being aggressive moves,” Mr Hammond said.

Gen Sir Richard claimed that, while at Nato, Mr Hammond sought to have him court martialled for criticising defence cuts as a “hell of a gamble”. Mr Hammond’s staff said they did not recognise the claim.

Mr Hammond warned that senior Eurosceptic Tories have an “obligation” to take off their “battle kit” and swing behind the Prime Minister within days of the referendum result.

Ministers must unify and deliver the rest of the Tory manifesto once voters have had the “final say”.

"When they have decided on June 23, we can take off our battle kit, put our civvies back on, and go back to business as usual,” Mr Hammond told the Telegraph.

"I'm sure that if you asked Michael Gove or Boris Johnson, they will tell you that they recognise that commitment and that obligation and - maybe not on Friday 24, but by Monday 27 - that is where their focus will be."

He acknowledged a major government shake-up is possible: "There is quite a lot of speculation that there will be a reshuffle. The Prime Minister will obviously want to look at how he handles things once the referendum is out of the way.”